Improvement in coppering iron vessels



W.B.BARNARD; 4

SHEATHING IRON VESSEL'S.

No. 37,998. Patented Mam. 24, 18.63".'

'ME uname versus co, Puma-mwa, wsmrmox c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM B. BARNARD, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNORTO HIMSELF AND SAMUEL G. BLAOKMAN, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN COPPERING IRON VESSELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 37,998, dated March 24, 1863.

A' clearly the Inode of securing the copper to the iron, and indicatingr the position of the insulatin g substance made use ofas interposed between the two metallic surfaces of iron and copper.

The advantages attendant upon the use of copper sheathing upon the hulls of iron as well as of wooden vessels are so apparent as ynot to require enumeration here; but the evils attendant upon the union ot' copper and iron, from the powerful and injurious galvanic action produced by their contact whenever there is the least presence of moisture, have been a great and serious drawback to the general use of copper as a sheathing for iron ships.

My invention is designed Vto obviate this serious difficulty, and to secure all the advalr tages of a copper sheathing upon iron vessels without the evils heretofore found inseparable from its use.

It is well known that there must not only be a presence of moisture between united surfaces of copper and iron to create a voltaic current, which in its development will eat and corrode the metallic surfaces, but that there m'ust also be direct contact of the metals;

, hence in sheathing iron or iron-clad vessels I first apply either a thick coat ot' the Japan varnish ot' commerce, or its equivalent, or a thin layer of lead, india-rubbcr, felt, papiermache, or their equivalents, either singly or ni combination, so that it may be perfectly covered thereby and all cracks and joints be closely lled with the material. I then proceed to superimpose upon this insulating, coating an outer sheathing of copper plates or sheets, which may be secured by means of metallic rivets C, combined with interiorlvenlarged cavities formed in the iron (see Fig.'3) and silmple apertures drilled through the copper p ates.

The rivets C which I use are made of copper or any suitable metal which will readily enlarge within the cavities formed in the ironwork. When made of copper or its alloys, these rivets must be thinly coated with lead or other suitable insulating material before being driven into the cavities formed for their reception.

Paints or varnish of certain descriptions may answer the .purpose of lead as 'a coating, but I prefer the latter.

Having thus fully described Iny invention, what I claim therein asnew, and desire to sccure by Letters Patent, is

The combination of Japan varnish or any other suitable insulating substance or material with the copper sheathing of an iron or iron-plated vessel, when said sheathing is attached to the vessel by meansof metallic rivets secured within enlarged cavities formed in the iron-work of the hull of said vessel, substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

The above specification of my new and use ful improvement in the mode of coppering iron vessels signed by me this 12th day ot' February, A. D. 1863.

WM. B. BARNARD.

G. W. 11A-LL, TRUMAN BAR'ILETT. 

